Katie Kitamura’s new novel, Audition, has been named one the most anticipated books of 2025 by many publications. Her previous novel, Intimacies, one of the New York Times’ 10 Best Books of 2021, was longlisted for the National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award, and was a finalist for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize. Her previous novel, A Separation, was a finalist for the Premio von Rezzori and a New York Times Notable Book. She is a recipient of the Rome Prize in Literature as well as fellowships from the Lannan, Jan Michalski and Santa Maddalena Foundations. She teaches in the creative writing program at New York University.

Claire Messud is Joseph Y. Bae and Janice Lee Senior Lecturer on Fiction in the Department of English at Harvard University. She is the author of bestselling novels including The Emperor’s Children, The Woman Upstairs, and The Burning Girl.  She is also the author of a book of novellas, The Hunters  and a memoir-in-essays, Kant’s Little Prussian Head & Other Reasons Why I Write. Her newest novel, This Strange Eventful History, was published in May 2024.